Smyrna times., 1887-06-08
GBe Smprna Dimes.
smyrna, -De<.,
Wednesday Afternoon, June 8, 1887.
MAKING SMOKE PICTURES.
A New and Suggestive Method of Max
ing Black and White Work.

A New and Suggestive Method of Max
ing Black and White Work.
Painters are proverbial inventors. They
were more so in old times than at pres
ent. for at that time nothing was estab-
lished and every painter had to make his
own cOlors, canvases, and sometimes the
implements he used. Nowadays they
are still an inventive class, for to secure
a method of painting which shall be dis
tinctiye of his own work only a painter
is obliged to try new processes and COM
binations of processes until he reaches
one which thoroughly satisfies his de-
sires. The results of such researches are
sometimes seen in our exhibitions, especi-
allv in black and white work. The
monotype, a painting made with printers
ink on a waxed paper, is one of the more
recent inventions of the kind. The
popularity of the monotype was its
facility of handling and a certain rich
quality of color which compared well
with the etching. The first mOnotype
was made ON copper plate, and then
was transferred to paper, having been
apparently suggested to the author by
the rubbing process in etching. Only
one impression of such a plate could be
made, and the experiment has proved
practically useless to the arts.
A still more recent invention, and with
more novel and valuable effects, is Mr..
W. Hamilton GibsOn's ''smOke picture
Several of these smoke pictures were re-
Gently shown in the rooms of the
Authors club, where they received very
general commentator for their broad
and striking effects.
The ''smoke picture appears to be
something entirely new. 1t may be
briefly described as a black and white
made by a gas flame upon a cardboard or
paper ground. In Mr.. GibsOn's first eX-
periments he held the paper before a hori-
zontal flame, and by passing one part
after another across the flame secured
masses of Iampblack, which he found he
could manipulate afterward to great pic
torial advantange. In this awkward
manner he was able to evolve a land
scape of decided suggestiveness. Later
he attached a rubber tube to his gas fix
ture, and with a suitable nozzle at the
end was able to sit before his easel and
manipulate the gas pipe as he would a
brush. After this innovation he was
able to obtain greater accuracy and to
study better his effects.
After the paper has been coated well
with varying shades Of gray and black it
presents perhaps the suggestion only of
landscape or figure. Detail may then be
put in with brush, with the finger, or
with any desired implement. Where the
removal Of the black by this means leaves
too white surface the gas fame passed
quickly over it will subdue it as grad
ually as may be wished to a deeper tone.
In its present state the smoke picture is
in its infancy, but it is certainly prom
ising one. Led to it by desire to secure
some relief from the excessive detail of
his ordinary method, Mr.. Gibson was as
tOnished and charmed with the results of
his experiment. Every touch of the
flame seemed to suggest new theme.
The whole was broad, yet marked with
graduatiOns so delicate as to be inimitable
by any ordinary method of black and
white work. Meanwhile the bold and
intense blacks assumed a rich. velvety
texture and depth which seemed remark
able. Unfortunately, the quality dis
appears under a spray of fixitive, the
liquid apparently forming a solution with
the lampblack, which loses its character
by the displacement of its particles.
Could some other method of preserving it
be found it would add to the sum Of our
knowledge in art a new black by the side
Of which the ordinary ivory and lamp
backs would appear light.
The pictures which have thus far re-
suited from Mr.. Gibson experiments are
above all broad and suggestive. The pro-
cess is so rapid that its value for sketching
purposes is already assured. 1t shows
itself furthermore capable Of giving re-
markable qualities, - being capable Of
the sOftest and smOothest of even surface
or Of the most bold and broken, according
TO the implements used to manipulate it,
the texture Of the underground, or pecu-
iarities Of application.
Mr.. Gibson hopes to carry his expert
ments still further and to test the value
Of his smoke picture for illustrative pur-
poses. Meanwhile the process is so easy
and material so cheap that numbers will
doubtless try it for themselves. New
York Commercial Advertiser.